This invention relates to a reactor system for the production of high octane gasoline and distillates from lower aliphatic oxygenates. In particular, the invention relates to an integrated plant for the conversion of methanol, dimethyl ether or the like to high octane gasoline and distillates in conjunction with the production of methyl tertiary alkyl ethers.
In recent years the petroleum industry has witnessed the development of highly effective novel processes for the synthetic production of gasoline by the conversion of methanol over zeolite type catalyst, particularly medium pore size shape selective aluminosilicate catalyst. Further technological development has broadened the range of this technology to encompass the production of olefins, distillates and aromatics, based on C.sub.1 chemistry and, in particular, methanol. The ready availability of synthetic methanol from feedstocks such as natural gas, coal and wood provide, a broad basis for the production of synthetic gasoline, distillates, olefins and aromatics. Various processes in the aforenoted field of technology are described in the following U.S. patents which are incorporated herein in their entirety by reference: U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,894,107 (Butter, et al); 3,928,483; 4,025,575; 4,252,479 (Chang, et al); 4,025,572 (Lago); 4,328,384 (Daviduk, et al); 4,547,616 (Avidan, et al); 4,450,311 (Right, et al); 3,960,978 and 4,021,502 (Plank, Rosinski and Givens); 4,150,062, 4,211,640 and 4,227,992 (Garwood, et al).
Paralleling the technological development of methanol to olefins, gasoline and distillate processes has been development of processes for production of methyl tertiary alkyl ethers as octane boosters in place of conventional lead additives in gasoline. The etherification processes for the production of methyl tertiary alkyl ethers, in particular methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) and methyl tertiary amyl ether (TAME) have been the focus of considerable research attention to resolve certain limitations in the etherification process with respect to the opportunity to drive the equilibrium dependent etherification reaction to completion by conducting etherification in the presence of excess methanol. It is known that recovering unreacted methanol by conventional separation and extraction techniques imposes severe economic burdens on the etherification process. Recognizing the feedstock commonality (methanol) for the synthetic production of gasoline as well as the production of methyl tertiary alkyl octane boosting ethers research workers have endeavored to combine these processes in a manner to provide a synergistically beneficial integrated process.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an integrated system for the production of synthetic gasoline and distillates wherein the gasoline fraction thereof is rich in octane boosting ethers.
Another object of present invention is to provide a system for the manufacture of methyl tertiary alkyl ethers in the presence of a large excess of methanol by a process reactor integration with methanol to olefins, gasoline and distillate technology.